Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 172 “I Live by Faith” Galatians 2:19-20.

Our first reading for August 23rd was Philippians 3:2-11. Paul’s testimony there in Philippians can help us to understand today’s text (Galatians 2:19-20). We read Galatians 2:17-21 for context.

Today's Text with Context

17aBut if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, 17bwe too were found to be sinners, 17cis Christ then a servant of sin? 17dCertainly not! 18aFor if I rebuild what I tore down, 18bI prove myself to be a transgressor. 19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ. 20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me. 20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh 20eI live by faith in the Son of God, 20fwho loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 2:17-21, ESV

Sermon Outline

"I Live by Faith" Galatians 2:19-20

  1. Overview
  2. I Died to the Law (19)
  3. I Have Been Crucified with Christ (20a)
  4. Christ Lives in Me (20b-c)
  5. I Live by Faith in the Son of God (20d-e)
  6. Who Loved Me (20f)

Scripture References: Philippians 3:2-11; Galatians 2:19-20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10;

1. Overview

Paul uses the word translated as ‘law’ in multiple ways. But in this paragraph (Galatians 2:17-21) Paul is certainly writing about the Law of Moses when he uses the word ‘law’. And Paul is here writing about how to be saved (cf 17aBut if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ,). Paul would certainly agree that there is more to the Law of Moses than just salvation. But here he is focused on what the Law of Moses requires for salvation. We need to remember the categories and distinctions that help us understand the Law of Moses: the three categories of the law, the three uses of the moral law, the law gospel distinction, and the justification sanctification distinction.

There are three categories of the Mosaic Law:

  1. Ceremonial Law: the religious rituals, rules, sacrifices, and so forth that define Old Testament worship;
  2. Civil Law: the legal system of the Old Testament theocracy of Israel;
  3. Moral Law: the 10 commandments, the 2 commandments, the 1 commandment, and derived moral commands.

The three uses of the law pertain to the Moral Law which is summarized by the ten commandments.

  1. the pedagogical use: to convict unsaved sinners of sin, righteousness, judgment;
  2. the civil use: to restrain all people from doing, saying, thinking evil things;
  3. the sanctifying use: to shows believers how to love God and how to love their neighbors.

The law gospel distinction:

  1. Law: The commands; “Do this and live” (Leviticus 18.5); salvation by works;
  2. Gospel: The promises; “It is finished” (John 19.30); salvation by grace.

The justification sanctification distinction:

  1. Justification: God declares us righteous when we believe;
  2. Sanctification Positional: Christ becomes our sanctification when we believe;
  3. Sanctification Progressive: We become more and more Christ-like after we believe;

Paul has been proving that the only effective means of salvation is faith (2:16). No one can be ‘justified by the works of the law’. One can only be justified ‘through faith in Jesus Christ’. The fact that Christ saves sinners does not make Christ ‘a servant of sin’ (2:17). If Paul were to revert to Pharisaic Second Temple Judaism (cf Philippians 3:2-11) he would prove that he was a transgressor (2:18). But Paul did not want to go back to ‘a righteousness of my own that comes from the law’ (Philippians 3:9). In verse 19 Paul continues his defense of justification through faith by writing about his relationship to the Law of Moses and his relationship to God.

2. I Died to the Law (19)

19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ.

Galatians 2:19-20a, ESV

The word for indicates that Paul is continuing his argument. Christ is not a servant of sin. Paul and all other true believers have stopped trying to save themselves by works of the law. Why would they go back to that or rebuild it? The regression to self-righteousness from Christ-righteousness would make them transgressors. So Paul now explains how believers should relate to the law.

We notice that in verse 19 Paul uses the personal pronoun I. He doesn’t need to do so because the verb died by itself tells us that the subject is first person, singular (I). Paul adds this “second” I for emphasis. Experts give various explanations for what Paul is talking about here in verse 19. I think Paul uses an extra, emphatic “I” here to focus on his own experience on the Road to Damascus. However, we must assert that all true believers have ‘died to the law’.

‘19aFor through the law I died to the law,’.
What does Paul mean by ‘I died to the law’? Paul means that the law no longer controls Paul or Paul’s destiny. The law, sin, and death have all lost their control over all true believers. This change occurred when we believed. We will elaborate on exactly what caused the change shortly.

How is it that we die to the law by means of the law or as the ESV puts it ‘through the law’? Again, there are various positions. I think that Paul is here giving us an example of the first use of the law. In other words the Holy Spirit used the law to convict Paul of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And that is how the Holy Spirit works in all unbelievers who become believers. The law showed Paul that he could not save himself. Once he knew that he could not save himself he turned in faith to Christ who saved him. This experience of Paul’s is certainly also our experience if we are true believers. But note there are individual differences as well.

We need to be very careful here to understand that Paul is not advocating abandonment of the law. That is to say, Paul holds to what we now describe as the third use of the law: the law shows believers how to love God and how to love their neighbors.

‘19bso that I might live to God.’.
Why did we ‘die to the law’? We ‘died to the law’ implies that we had before lived to the law. The law, sin, and death had controlled us before we were saved. But once God broke that control by saving us we were able to ‘live to God’. We are actually able to submit to God. We really want to submit to God. We can obey God. We can live life with God-consciousness without fear of sin and death. The next clause gives us insight into how all of this is accomplished.

3. I Have Been Crucified with Christ (20a)

17aBut if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, 17bwe too were found to be sinners, 17cis Christ then a servant of sin? 17dCertainly not! 18aFor if I rebuild what I tore down, 18bI prove myself to be a transgressor. 19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ. 20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me. 20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh 20eI live by faith in the Son of God, 20fwho loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 2:17-21, ESV

Timothy George asserts that verses 19-20 describe ‘the normal Christian life’1. Unfortunately many Christians use these two verses to advocate various sorts of abnormal Christian life:

  • Some use verse 19 to prove that the moral law has no place in the Christian’s life;
  • Others use verse 20 to justify various unbiblical forms of mysticism2.

We must work with the full counsel of God to be sure we are not deviating from Biblical norms. For instance, Paul is assuredly not saying that we are literally crucified. Jesus Christ was literally crucified for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. We are instead ‘figuratively’3 ‘crucified with Christ’. How is it, then that Paul would assert that he had been crucified with Christ?

‘20aI have been crucified with Christ.’.
Paul is here alluding indirectly to union with Christ which is a great miracle that all true believers have experienced. When we are born again by the Holy Spirit we exercise the saving faith that God has given us. At that time the Holy Spirit unites us with Christ in such a way that we participate in His death and His resurrection. Christ’s crucifixion atoned for our sins if we are true believers. Among other things the atonement accomplished for us it broke the power of the law, sin, and death over us.

It is likely that there is close parallelism between verse 19 and verse 20. ‘19aFor through the law I died to the law,’ is closely related to ‘20aI have been crucified with Christ.’. We are dead to the law because we have been crucified with Christ. He has paid the penalty for our sins and He has cancelled the power of sin over us.

And as we will consider next, ‘19bso that I might live to God.’ is closely related to ‘20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me.’.

4. Christ Lives in Me (20b-c)

8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:8-11, ESV

As we have said some Christians use verse 20 to justify various unbiblical forms of mysticism. Paul’s testimony in Philippians 3:2-11 gives us insight into Paul’s thinking about the meaning of having been ‘crucified with Christ’. Christians do suffer per Philippians 3:10. But Christians also can experience the ‘power of Christ’s resurrection’. We do not experience Christ’s actual crucifixion.

19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ. 20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me. 20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh 20eI live by faith in the Son of God, 20fwho loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:19-20, ESV

Not only ‘20aI have been crucified with Christ.’ but also ‘20bIt is no longer I who live,’ and ‘20cbut Christ who lives in me.’ have been used to defend unbiblical forms of mysticism. Just as we do not experience Christ’s actual crucifixion we also do not become Christ. Nor do we in this life become ‘perfect’ in the way that Christ is.

‘20bIt is no longer I who live,’.
But Paul is asserting that a very significant set of changes occurs when we believe in Christ savingly. The old “I” is changed so much that it is as if it has been replaced by a new “I”. Of course there is a remnant of sin in every believer’s life. But the next clause explains why Paul said ‘20bIt is no longer I who live,’.

‘20cbut Christ who lives in me.’.
Once we are saved Christ lives in us. And the Holy Spirit also dwells in us. These two assertions are both true and they are closely related. The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Spirit of Christ. This indwelling is a crucial difference between believers and unbelievers. There is common grace for all people but there is special grace only for true believers. If we are believers the struggle against sin can be turned over to God the indwelling Holy Spirit.

5. I Live by Faith in the Son of God (20d-e)

17aBut if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, 17bwe too were found to be sinners, 17cis Christ then a servant of sin? 17dCertainly not! 18aFor if I rebuild what I tore down, 18bI prove myself to be a transgressor. 19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ. 20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me. 20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh 20eI live by faith in the Son of God, 20fwho loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 2:17-21, ESV

Now Paul further elaborates on the possibility of ‘living to God’ in the present life.

‘20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh’.
Recall that we said Paul writes about himself and his own experience in verses 19-20 but what he writes about is pertinent to all true believers. We live out our earthly lives ‘in the flesh’ even after we are born again. Here Paul is not using the word ‘flesh’ in a negative sense. We note that Paul often elsewhere does use the word ‘flesh’ negatively. Here Paul is simply asserting that we continue to live in our mortal bodies after we are born again. This assertion is one reason we need to be careful with Paul’s figurative language about death. We are still living in the same body we had before we were born again. But there are differences. We have already said that now we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

‘20eI live by faith in the Son of God,’.
We begin the Christian life ‘by faith in the Son of God’ and we continue the Christian life ‘by faith in the Son of God’. We are justified through (by means of) faith and we are sanctified through (by means of) faith and we worship God through (by means of) faith and everything we do ought to be done through (by means of) faith.

We describe faith with the mnemonic KAT. K stands for Knowledge. A stands for Agreement. T stands for Trust.

We don’t just believe at a particular point in time. We believe all through life. God has permanently given us this gift. I, of course, acknowledge that at times we may think that our faith has vanished. However, if we ever received this gift we will never lose it. But still we say “I believe, help thou my unbelief”.

Note who we have faith in: ‘the Son of God’. Christ is the source of our salvation and the source of our confidence in Him. As I need to remind myself often this faith was given to me by God by His grace. We ought not to make faith into a work.

6. Who Loved Me (20f)

19aFor through the law I died to the law, 19bso that I might live to God. 20aI have been crucified with Christ. 20bIt is no longer I who live, 20cbut Christ who lives in me. 20dAnd the life I now live in the flesh 20eI live by faith in the Son of God, 20fwho loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:19-20, ESV

‘20fwho loved me and gave himself for me.’.
In the last clause of verse 20 Paul writes about the atonement. Here is J I Packer’s definition of atonement4:

Atonement means making amends, blotting out the offense, and giving satisfaction for wrong done; thus reconciling to oneself the alienated other and restoring the disrupted relationship.

Paul asserts the motive of Jesus Christ the Son of God: He loved us. Paul also describes the atonement as Jesus giving Himself for us. Without in any way detracting from all the other things that Jesus did we must recognize that the atonement was an astonishing action taken on our behalf. We note that Paul makes this assertion very personal. If we are believers we can make the same very personal assertion. “Jesus loved me (Doug) and Jesus gave Himself for me (Doug)”.

Personal saving faith, given to us by God, gives us the means to receive the benefits of this atonement for sins. Who we believe in is Christ the Son of God. What we believe is the gospel.

1Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

1 Corinthians 15:1-10, ESV

Footnotes

© 2026 Christian Life Church.

  1. Timothy George, Galatians, CSC, kp 269. ↩

  2. ibid., kp 271. ↩

  3. F. F. Bruce, Galatians, NIGTC, kp 274. ↩

  4. J. I. Packer, Concise Theology, kp 134. ↩